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Grace & Peace: Revelation #31

Douglas Wilson on August 16, 2016

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” (Rev. 3:10).

The saints in Philadelphia had remained faithful during trial up to this point, the Lord promised to deliver them from a future trial, the kind of trial that was going to come upon the entire world. The word translated temptation here can be rendered either as temptation or trial, and when the Lord adds that He is going to “try them that dwell upon the earth,” He is using the same root in a verb form. This is going to be a time of testing, a time of trial, and the church at Philadelphia wouldn’t have to deal with it. The reason they wouldn’t have to deal with it is because they already passed their test.

The word they kept was the word of the Lord’s patience, which means they had gone through something that had called for patience. When they were being tried, the world was not being tried, and when the world received its great test, the church at Philadelphia would not.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation #30

Douglas Wilson on August 9, 2016

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee” (Rev. 3:9).

Throughout the Old Testament a distinction is made between those Jews who knew the Lord, and those who knew the Lord in truth. This same theme is carried over into the New Testament and highlighted there, with the intent that Christians, who are members of the new Israel, would take the central lesson to heart—which is that you must be born again. Regardless of your covenant status, you must have the root of the matter within you. And the root of the matter is Christ within you, the hope of glory.

Put bluntly, if you have the covenant of God, but you do not have God Himself, then what you actually have is Satan. Nominal Christians are not partial Christians, but rather devil-worshipers. Nominal Christians are not halfway to Heaven, but rather most of the way to Hell. They are Christians in some sense, but not in any sense that is a blessing.

John here speaks fiercely of those who claimed to be Jews, but who were not. They were lying about it—whether or not they had actually descended from Abraham. They claimed they were Jewish, and they gathered in synagogues, but the whole thing was a pretense and farce.

God responds by saying that He will make them acknowledge that the Christians were the true objects of God’s electing love, which would mean that they were the heirs of all God’s promises to Israel. He would make them come and prostrate themselves before them, not in worship (as though they were divine), but rather in awe and profound respect.

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Grace and Peace: Revelation #29

Douglas Wilson on August 2, 2016

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name” (Rev. 3:8).

We see in this verse a recurring biblical principle, which is that what belongs to Christ belongs to those who are in Christ. In the previous verse, we saw that Christ is the one with a key that opens what no man can shut, and who shuts what no man can open. Because of this authority that the Lord Jesus has, the words spoken in the next verse apply the very same reality to the Christians at the church in Philadelphia.

The Lord mentions four things that relate to their faithfulness. He knows their works, first. Second, their works were done despite having “little strength.” Third, they have kept the Lord’s word, and last, they have not denied His name. So they worked though they had little strength to work, they kept the word that had been entrusted to them, and they did not deny the name of the Lord. The Lord commends them for all this, but more than commending them, He bestows on them what He only can give. He sets before them an open door, which no man can shut.

The progress of the faithful church is never by might, or by power, but by God’s Spirit (Zech. 4:6). God is therefore the God of disproportionate results.

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Grace and Peace: Revelation #28

Douglas Wilson on July 19, 2016

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth” (Rev. 3:7).

The church at Philadelphia is next, and is a church that is simply praised and encouraged. They had done well, and are not admonished for any significant sin. The words to the angel of the church at Philadelphia are words from the one who is identified as “holy” and as “true.” So this continues as a series of messages to the churches from the Lord Jesus.

This opening greeting to the church also contains a messianic reference from a prophecy by Isaiah. A man named Shebna had been comptroller during the reign of Hezekiah. He was a prideful man, and because of this was ejected from his place (Is. 22:15-25). He had built himself a very fancy sepulcher, which Isaiah mocked, and the lintel of which now occupies a place in the British Museum. Shebna was a conceited man who had removed a godly man named Eliakim from his place. Shebna was likely a traitor, or some kind of double-dealer, a man with secret communications with Judah’s enemies. Ambrose Bierce calls a mausoleum the final and funniest folly of the rich, and in this case at least, God agreed. He was building a grand memory for himself in a country he was betraying, and God promised that he would be hauled off to die somewhere else.

After Shebna had received his comeuppance, Eliakim was placed in Shebna’s role. There, as a faithful steward, the key of the house of David would be laid upon his shoulder. When he opened something, no one could shut it. When he shut and locked something, no one could open it. He would be permanently settled. As such, this Eliakim is a type of the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the steward of all human history, having replaced a treacherous steward, that is, the devil.

Because the key was in the possession of the Lord Jesus, the opening for the church at Philadelphia was a true opening, and would remain such.

A Little Something We’ve Been Up To

Ben Zornes on July 11, 2016

A new feature which we will be adding periodically: Sermon Shorts! You may not have enough time to watch a full sermon, but these clips will be the perfect length for sharing and spreading! It is our hope to bring the message of Christ’s victorious Gospel to the nations; and doing so in bite-size clips is just one more way of endeavoring to do that!

This was taken from a recent sermon from Pastor Wilson, entitled “Authority & Power“!

Enjoy and share with your friends!

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